Trenton Mayor Tony Mack rejects council's vote for salary cut

TRENTON — Mayor Tony Mack yesterday vetoed a 52 percent cut to his salary passed by council less than 24 hours earlier.

Mack called the salary ordinance an “unconstitutional violation” of his due process rights and said it violates the state Faulkner Act’s requirement on the separation of executive and legislative powers.

The measure would have cut his salary to $60,000. The mayor did not respond to requests for comment yesterday. Council President Phyllis Holly-Ward said the veto wasn’t the end of the tussle over Mack’s annual pay of $126,400.

“It’s coming back on the 20th,” she said. “At that meeting, we’ll try to get that supermajority vote (to override the veto).”

Council proposed slashing Mack’s pay last month after complaining for months that Mack had not been earning his six-figure salary, particularly after the mayor was hit with a federal corruption charge in September following a lengthy FBI investigation.

The ordinance docking Mack’s pay did pass 4-3 on Thursday night, with council members Alex Bethea, Kathy McBride and Verlina Reynolds-Jackson voting against it, but did not garner the five votes needed to survive a mayoral veto.

Reynolds-Jackson, who previously voted in favor of introducing the salary ordinance, indicated she might be inclined to change her vote if the wording of the ordinance is made less vague.

“She has more than enough time to bring revisions back,” Holly-Ward said.

Council has until the end of the year to override Mack’s veto. If the ordinance was changed or amended, council would have to reintroduce the ordinance and take another final vote on it.

But while Mack remained silent on his salary cut, he did sound off yesterday to criticism of his leadership during Hurricane Sandy, blasting “certain members of city council” for “playing politics” while Trenton residents were still struggling to get back on their feet after the storm.

“Considering the fact that so many of our residents are still without power, suffered property damage, and had to discard food for lack of power, I find it utterly despicable that certain members of City Council would choose to play politics during such a trying time for our community,” Mack said in a press release titled “This is NOT the time for politics!”

A handful of council members and residents were critical of Mack’s hurricane response at Thursday night’s council meeting, saying the mayor appeared to be missing in action while city department directors and employees were busy dealing with power outages and downed trees.

Trenton Mayor Tony Mack vetoed an ordinance that would cut his pay in half. Martin Griff / The Times

In the press release, Mack said he was involved with every facet of the city’s emergency management response during the storm and listed a number of communications directives he made to keep residents informed via Facebook, radio spots and the city’s robo-call system.

“I have been involved with every aspect of decision making related to Hurricane Sandy and find it appalling and distasteful that suggestions are being made otherwise. This is the time to stand united,” Mack said.

Holly-Ward, who has scolded Mack before for sending out needling press releases, remained unconvinced about the mayor’s performance during the hurricane.
“When I read it, really, what he did is expose he really wasn’t there. That’s what the press release did,” she said.

Holly-Ward said she didn’t see him at emergency briefings she attended, never heard his voice on recorded messages sent to residents or saw him out and about reassuring residents.

“For him to say he was involved the whole time, the question is how were you involved?” she said. “Were you on the ground? Where were you involved at? For him to say ‘it’s not a time for politics,’ no, now is not the time to be absent.”